A Warning in the Flood
Noah and the flood, could there be a more well known and less understood/believed story within our Bibles? The evidence of a global flood can be seen throughout the fossil record. Stories of a flood permeate through every culture on earth – yet the world dismisses it as fantasy. Even some Christians dismiss the idea of the ‘entire earth’ being submerged in water in favor of a more localized “all the world they knew of” point of view. Yet, scripture does not lie. The same God who created the earth in precisely six days, destroyed it in forty.
God’s heart was broken, and like an artist covering up a mistake, He wiped the earth clean and started again. Thankfully, He didn’t completely give up on humanity and His creation. By saving Noah and his family, God gave us all another chance – one many would yet again squander and abuse. This second chance stands forever as a warning. There will be another day of reckoning, another day of final destruction upon this earth and all who ever walked here. Noah and his ark show us the reality of God’s righteous judgment. Perhaps that it why the world works so hard to discredit the account.
Speaking of this future and final judgment, Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man.” (Matthew 24:36-39)
The door of the ark that had stood open wide enough for elephants and hippos to waltz through was sealed tight by the very hand of God. There could be no second guessing. There could be no fleeing or saving those whom God had deemed doomed. The same is true of the second coming of Christ. When the heaven parts, it will be too late to share the gospel with your family and friends. It will be too late for them to change their minds. The story of Noah and his ark should inspire us to boldly share the gospel. It should put a feeling of desperation into our hearts. We have an obligation to the people around us. They cannot see the rain beginning to fall. They do not hear the warnings, but we do. We see the signs; we know the coming storm waiting for humanity. Therefore, we, like Paul to whom Jesus originally spoke these words, have an obligation to bear witness to what we have seen and experienced, what we have felt and what we learned. “To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” (Acts 26:18)
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